By Michael Bushnell
Northeast News
April 13, 2012

Mary Ellen Schorgl, 50, of Northeast Kansas City was sentenced Feb. 2 to 37 months in federal prison for her role in a bank fraud case that involved dummy companies and fraudulent bills for services that were never performed. Schorgl pleaded guilty last September to bank fraud as part of a plea agreement.

According to court documents, Schorgl, as part of her position as a lease administration manager for Associated Wholesale Grocers, created false invoices for an AWG Subsidiary in Chicago, Ill., totaling more than $103,000. Checks from AWG to Bradley were deposited by Schorgl into an account she opened under the name of “Mary E. Schorgl, dba Bradley Operating Company.” Schorgl then forged the payee’s name on the check and made the check payable to J&L Electric, a Northeast company in which she was a partner. An internal AWG audit initiated in April of 2011 noted large discrepancies with respect to payments to vendors. Those discrepancies, according to court documents, continued to grow as the investigation progressed.

Schorgl was also ordered by the court to pay more than $163,000 in restitution and to surrender to a federal prison facility in Greenville, Ill.,  at 9 a.m. Monday, April 2.